Fluttercord Chronicles
by OnlyHere4Puckabrina
Summary: Read the title, it's all about Fluttercord! These stories won't necessarily be connected, in order or canon, just whatever scenes of this ship I happen to dream up. So I will put a quick summary at the head of each chapter, except the first. First summary: Fluttershy has been asked to watch the Cake twins, and Discord decides to tag along.
1. Foal-sitting

**Greetings bronies and pegasisters and most of all, Fluttercord shippers! I'm starting this series of cute little episodes, which will all be dedicated to my favourite MLP ship. You're welcome to send me prompts or ideas if you want, as long as they're about Fluttercord!**

 **I will not be updating regularly, just whenever I write an addition, so could be hours or months between postings, depending on my imagination and commitment to it.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing in or about the MLP:FiM universe.**

* * *

Fluttershy was just finishing up putting out food for all her critters when there was a knock on the door. Calling out a gentle "Coming!" she trotted over and opened the cottage door.

"Oh, Mrs Cake," said a surprised Fluttershy. "It's nice to see you. Um…did you want to come in?"

"Oh, no thank you, Fluttershy," said Mrs Cake, sounding harried. "I need to get back to the bakery. Pinkie's out throwing a cute-ceañera, so I've left Mr Cake running it and watching the twins by himself. I just came to ask a favour."

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if you would foal-sit for us tomorrow afternoon?"

"Oh. Um…"

"I know it's short notice," Mrs Cake went on, "but we had a sudden last minute order and everyone else is busy."

"Well, um… the afternoon, was it?"

"Yes, around two. Until about six."

Fluttershy did some quick calculations. "Yes. That should be fine."

"Oh, thank you Fluttershy!" Mrs Cake gushed. She gave Fluttershy a brief hug and said, "Gotta go. Thank you so much!" Then she dashed off back to Ponyville.

* * *

Fluttershy had just put the finger sandwiches on her table when her guest materialised beside her. She was so used to this by now that she only flinched slightly.

"Fluttershy!" cried Discord, flinging his arms out in welcome.

"Discord!" Fluttershy replied, smiling widely back at him.

"I brought you a gift." He produced a bunch of flowers out of thin air. "As every polite guest should."

Fluttershy took the flowers with another smile. She had told Discord a couple of weeks ago that it was customary for guests to bring their hosts a small gift whenever they came over. Ever since, he had always brought her flowers whenever he showed up to their Tuesday morning teas. This week's were particularly beautiful. She recognised them as the kinds that grew between her cottage and the Everfree Forest. She had always admired those, but wasn't quite brave enough to go right up to the haunted trees to pick them. Then she wondered if Discord knew that.

"Thank you, Discord. Would you like some tea, or a finger sandwich first?"

"Hmm. A finger sandwich, I think."

They sat down at the table and began their morning tea. Discord filled Fluttershy in on his week, and she giggled as he regaled her with stories. He always had the funniest experiences whereas her weeks were always pretty dull.

"So what's new with you, my dear?" the Chaos Lord asked.

"Um, well… I've agreed to help Rarity with her new fashion line. She's going to model all her dresses on me."

"You're going to be a model? Again?"

"Not exactly. I don't have to wear the dresses in front of anyone."

"Well that's better," the draconequus muttered.

Fluttershy cocked her head, wondering what he meant by that, then shook her head. "Also, I have to foal-sit the Cake twins this afternoon, so we may have to cut our morning tea a little short, I'm sorry."

"Why?" Discord shrugged. "Why don't I just help you foal-sit?"

"Oh," said Fluttershy, taken aback. "I…I didn't think you'd want to."

"Well why not? I'm great with kids."

Fluttershy smiled. "Have you ever been around kids?"

Discord grinned. "No. But I've spent plenty of time with Pinkie Pie."

Fluttershy snorted and lapsed into giggles. "Okay, sounds like fun," she managed eventually.

* * *

The two of them whiled away the morning talking and joking together as they usually did, then made their way over to the Sugarcube Corner just before two o'clock.

Mrs Cake was at the counter serving customers as usual, while Mr Cake was dashing in and out of the actual bakery in the back, carrying boxes to load onto their delivery cart.

"Fluttershy, you're here!" Mrs Cake called, relieved, as she saw the shy yellow pegasus come in. "And…oh…Discord too," as she caught sight of the draconequus entering behind her.

"Yes. Discord offered to help me with foal-sitting for this afternoon."

"Oh…" Mrs Cake hesitated, and even Mr Cake paused in his mad dash around the sweetshop to look questioningly at the Chaos Lord. "Well, that's…very kind."

Fluttershy and Discord were not too bothered by her lack of enthusiasm for this plan, as they had expected it, but it still rather annoyed Fluttershy, though she pushed back the feeling. She knew Mr and Mrs Cake were just worried for their children, and who could blame them for that?

"It would certainly help Fluttershy to have another magic user to deal with young Pumpkin," Discord pointed out smoothly.

Fluttershy had not thought of that, but she realised he was right. She might be able to stop Pound Cake as he flew all over the house, but she had no way of dealing with Pumpkin's magic.

"That's true," Mrs Cake agreed with a small smile. "Very well. You two won't have to watch the bakery, because we'll close it for the afternoon…"

"Not at all!" Discord cried, snapping the fingers on his lion paw. Another Discord popped into existence beside the original, wearing rectangular glasses, a crisp white apron and a name tag reading 'Assistant Manager Discord'. "I can take care of that too."

"Well, I don't know if…" Mrs Cake began.

Assistant Manager Discord stepped forward with a bow and took her hoof. "Never fear, good lady, your shop is in excellent hooves. And paws and claws," he added with a chuckle, wiggling his mismatched digits.

"We really don't…"

But she was cut off again as Assistant Manager Discord snapped his eagle claws and two more Discords appeared behind him, both wearing matching aprons, caps and badges reading 'Server Discord'.

"See? We can easily keep the shop running while we foal-sit the twins upstairs," said Assistant Manager Discord.

Mr and Mrs Cake were clearly unsure about this decision, so Fluttershy cut in. "We certainly don't want you to lose business, Mr and Mrs Cake, and Discord as you see is happy to help. Don't worry. We'll keep everything under control."

The Cakes trusted Fluttershy's judgement, and knew Discord listened to her more than anypony, so they gave in.

"Come on, Banana Muffin!" Mr Cake called to his wife, frantically carrying the last of the delivery boxes outside.

"Yes, yes, right behind you Honey Cakes!" Mrs Cake replied. She dashed upstairs to hug her children goodbye before scurrying back down and out the door after him.

Original Discord turned to Fluttershy with raised eyebrows and a smirk. "Banana Muffin? Mr Cake is starting to sound like Pinkie Pie."

Fluttershy giggled. "Come on, we should go check on the twins."

Fluttershy and Discord (the original) made their way up to the Cakes' apartment while the three other Discords took up their positions to prepare to help the customers who came in during the afternoon.

Pumpkin and Pound Cake were sitting up on the carpet in the middle of their nursery, obviously waiting for their foal-sitters. As soon as the two of them entered, both foals burbled excitedly, Pound smashing his tiny hooves into the floor, and Pumpkin using her magic to pick up a giant stuffed rabbit and put it in her mouth.

Fluttershy immediately rushed to them, chiding gently. "No, Pumpkin, we don't eat Big Angel Bunny. Pound Cake, please don't hit like that, you'll hurt yourself."

Pound Cake shrieked and threw his hooves around Fluttershy instead. Pumpkin pulled the stuffed toy from her mouth and cuddled it instead. "Anji Bun," she gurgled.

Fluttershy giggled as she nuzzled Pound right back. "That's right, Pumpkin," she cooed. "Angel Bunny."

Discord smiled as he watched the young ponies give in to Fluttershy's natural charm. It really was amazing how everypony fell under her spell, including himself. After savouring the view for a minute, he decided to make his presence known.

"Well, these two certainly do look like trouble, don't they?" he said, hovering over the other three.

Pound and Pumpkin squealed with pretend fear and babbled incoherently at the draconequus. Pound flew up to his level and prodded him experimentally.

"Yes, ankle-biter, I am real," he huffed.

Fluttershy giggled, but Pumpkin scowled up at him, waving her stuffed Angel Bunny around angrily.

"What does this one want?" Discord asked.

Fluttershy explained. "Pumpkin knows all of her foal-sitters by a certain toy. See, I gave her the bunny, Twilight and Spike gave her that Smarty-Pants doll over there, Rarity got her the Glamour Gallop Girl, the apple is, of course, from the Apple clan, and Pinkie Pie and her parents are the cupcake." Discord tried counting them, amazed at how many of the citizens of Ponyville were represented in Pumpkin's stuffed toy collection. Rainbow had managed to find a Daring Do figure, and he even thought he saw a stuffed scroll tied with blue ribbon that he was sure was from Mayor Mare.

"You need to give her something so she'll recognise you too," Fluttershy said.

Discord shrugged and conjured up a small stuffed replica of himself, handing it to the young unicorn. She shrieked with pleasure and immediately tried to cram the new toy into her mouth. Fluttershy set to trying to persuade it back out.

Now that he had been 'introduced properly', the twins wanted to play a game. Fluttershy went happily along with their whims, telling Discord how to play along when necessary. He caught on pretty quickly, as Pound and Pumpkin were both extremely creative and mischievous, just like him. He was glad he had come along, because he could easily imagine these two running poor Fluttershy off her feet and into a rare temper. When he mentioned this to his friend, Fluttershy had smiled and confessed even Pinkie Pie had trouble keeping up with the Cake twins occasionally.

There were no arguments for the first half-hour or so, then Pound and Pumpkin got into a squabble, which was quickly resolved with Fluttershy's gentle remonstrances. Discord was happy to sit back and watch her work her own special magic for that one.

When they got into snack time, the twins got fussy. Fluttershy cajoled and pleaded, but they had started becoming stubborn, so Discord made their mashed peas dance through the air, which made them laugh and distracted them from the fact that they didn't want to eat it. Fluttershy beamed at him as the twins happily gulped down their peas, and Discord felt quite proud.

After everyone had eaten, Pumpkin started trying to impress her foal-sitters with shows of magic, which were very disruptive. Discord quickly calmed her down with feats of his own magic, and the two soon began competing against each other in a magic show. Fluttershy was pleased to see that he wasn't letting it get too out of hand, which left her with Pound, who was begging to be chased around the ceiling. Fluttershy was happy to do so.

The afternoon wore on, and Discord and Fluttershy were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Fluttershy was pleasantly surprised at how well they seemed to work as a team with the boisterous foals. Pound and Pumpkin became bored with their individual pursuits at the almost exact same time, and the two foal-sitters effortlessly switched charges so Discord was helping Pound build block towers (his own specially chaotic kind) and Fluttershy was trying to teach Pumpkin more words.

Discord flatly refused to help, however, when they needed changing.

Fluttershy smiled at this and said threateningly, but teasing, "You're going to have to know how to do this if we ever foal-sit again."

Discord grinned at the thought of spending another day like this with Fluttershy. It seemed so natural, the two of them taking care of the little rugrats. He wondered if he would get to help as much when Fluttershy became a mother. If only…

The draconequus sighed as he gazed at the gorgeous pegasus. Fluttershy would be an excellent mother, if and when she chose to become one.

As the Cakes' return drew closer, Pound and Pumpkin started to get more and more wild. This, Fluttershy knew, meant it was bedtime. Usually, getting the Cake twins to go to sleep when they didn't want to was nigh on impossible. As far as Fluttershy knew, only Pinkie had accomplished it alone, and she still remembered Pinkie describing the nightmare time she had had just getting them to _stay in the cot_.

With Discord though, the task was easy. He created a magical barrier so they couldn't escape their cot, so they had to stay put when Fluttershy turned The Stare on them and ordered them to calm down. They did so, lying down, closing their eyes and eventually falling asleep as Fluttershy sang them a lullaby.

Discord listened to her soft, melodic voice in rapture, so lost in the sound that he didn't immediately notice when she stopped singing and turned to him.

"Now," she said, and Discord snapped to attention. Fluttershy was looking around the room at the huge mess the four of them had left behind from their fun afternoon. "We'll have to…"

But Discord had already snapped his fingers and everything went flying back to its rightful place, towels and blankets were folded and tucked away neatly and the magical forcefield around the sleeping twins' cot disappeared. Before Fluttershy could blink, the chaotic room was orderly once more. She smiled at Discord.

"Thank you," she said quietly, mindful of the sleeping foals.

"Of course, my dear," he replied. "Shall we go down and see how the other Discords did in the shop?"

Fluttershy had completely forgotten about the bakery downstairs, and hoped that the lack of explosions or other loud disturbances meant all had gone well there too. She and Discord went downstairs and found Assistant Manager Discord waving off the last of the day's customers – who looked quite bemused by the new staff – while the two Server Discords were sweeping the floor and writing up the last sale in the Cakes' ledger. Once Assistant Manager Discord had flipped the 'Open' sign to 'Closed' and the second Server Discord had put down his quill, they all turned to Fluttershy and Original Discord.

"All went well, sir," Assistant Manager Discord announced. "Just a couple of complaints, but we took care of them."

"Good job," Discord told himself.

The other three Discords all nodded and vanished.

Just to be sure all was actually well, Fluttershy did a quick check around the shop and bakery. Apart from a crop of mushrooms on the kitchen counter and stovetop, and the overly sudsy soap the first Server Discord had been sweeping with, there didn't seem to be anything out of place. Even the notes of each sale in the ledger were legible and made sense – or at least as much sense as Pinkie Pie's, so she thought the Cakes could interpret it well enough.

Discord, on her request, removed the mushrooms and the bucket of soap, just in time for Mr and Mrs Cake to walk through the door.

"Oh my!" Mrs Cake exclaimed, gazing around at the immaculate shop.

Mr Cake was right behind her, and he too looked surprised at how normal and neat everything appeared. "How are the twins?" he asked Fluttershy.

"We just got them to sleep," Fluttershy reported proudly.

The Cakes of course wanted to see their children, so Fluttershy and Discord showed them the sleeping foals in their spotless nursery. Mrs Cake pressed her hoof to her mouth as she saw the twins snuggled together, with the adorable addition of Pumpkin holding tightly to her new Discord doll.

The four adults went back downstairs before speaking.

"You two have done a wonderful job," Mr Cake told them. "Thank you so much, Fluttershy. And you too, Discord. Couldn't have done it without you."

"Yes," Mrs Cake agreed. "You two might just be our go-to foal-sitters from now on."

"Except Pinkie, because we gave her our Pinkie Promise," Mr Cake added.

Discord beamed with pride while Fluttershy graciously accepted their thanks. Who would have thought the Lord of Chaos would be a master foal-sitter?

* * *

As they left Sugarcube Corner and made their way slowly back to Fluttershy's cottage, the pegasus and draconequus chatted about their fun afternoon with the Cake twins, laughing and smiling at the amusing things the two foals had done.

"I think we make an excellent team," Discord said. "We should be parents!"

Fluttershy laughed and looked away to hide her blush. "I think you'd be a great dad." Then she blushed furiously at her own daring comment.

Discord did not seem to notice but cried, "Are you kidding? You'd be the best mother!" which did not help Fluttershy's embarrassment.

The two friends lapsed into a companionable silence until they reached Fluttershy's cottage.

"Well, goodnight, my dear," Discord said as Fluttershy went to her door.

"Goodnight, Discord. I'll see you next week for our Tuesday morning tea?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it!" he beamed. Then with a pop, the draconequus vanished.

Fluttershy smiled to herself and went in to feed her critters.

* * *

Mrs Cake came by late the next morning and Fluttershy offered her a drink and cookies, which she this time accepted.

"Did you know Discord came to see Mr Cake and me this morning?" she asked Fluttershy.

"No," Fluttershy said, completely surprised.

"Yes, he came to ask if we could let him know next time we ever needed a foal-sitter."

Fluttershy smiled. "He had a lot of fun yesterday. And I really couldn't have done it without him."

"That's what we figured," Mrs Cake replied. "So we told him of course we would."

"I'm glad," said Fluttershy with another smile.

"Even though we had two customers come in and tell us that they had been chased out of the shop by a manticore yesterday when they tried to make a complaint!"

Fluttershy gasped. "Oh, Mrs Cake, I'm so sorry! I had no idea!"

Mrs Cake giggled. "Oh well. With the Lord of Chaos, I honestly expected much worse."

Fluttershy also let out a relieved giggle. "Yes. I suppose it could have been."

"Which is why I want to ask you – anytime Discord foal-sits for us, would you come along too and make sure he doesn't get too crazy?"

Fluttershy beamed. "Anytime."


	2. Discord's Best Night Ever

**This is an older story of mine, based on a theory, which I thought I could add to my Fluttercord stories.**

 **So in the episode 'Best Night Ever', the Mane Six plus Spike go to the Grand Galloping Gala, and Fluttershy just wants to spend the night in the garden with all the rare creatures. Given her gift with animals, it always confused me that her plans didn't work out. Then I realised in the very next episode, the beginning of Season 2, Discord makes his first appearance. Coincidence? Maybe not. His statue would have been in close proximity to the gardens! So this is a retelling of 'Best Night Ever', from Discord's point of view.**

 **I don't own anything.**

* * *

Over the past thousand years, the spell had weakened. He had not noticed it for the first century or so, but now he had gathered almost enough strength to break it. All it would take was one more act of disharmony nearby and he could suck up the energy and he would finally be free. Tonight was the night, he was sure. Because tonight was the Grand Galloping Gala, and he could always count on some silly love scandal or argument to take place in the gardens, usually several.

Ponies were arriving in droves, all in high spirits. They wouldn't be for long. This party was made such a big deal out of all the time, and whoever attended always set their hopes for the night far too high. They were bound to be disappointed.

He felt the presence of crowds of ponies moving around the lawns beyond the animals' garden. They went in and out of the ballroom constantly. It was too early in the evening to expect some sort of outburst, so he turned his attention instead to a lone spirit who went skipping into the gardens. He heard her exclaim with delight as she called out to the creatures, so he knew instantly why she was there.

With nothing else to hold his attention, he focussed his limited magical vision on this pony, and found her 'special talent' was an affinity with all creatures. Well, not for long, he thought, chuckling. He had not been able to really chuckle in a thousand years, but he laughed silently to himself in his mind.

His magic was only enough to combat her own talent, so that when she went near the animals, they treated her the same as every other strange pony to come to their garden, and ran away. He howled with imagined laughter as he watched the young mare chase them all over the garden, trying to get near them. It was really too funny.

He could feel her dismay and frustration growing, and he used his magic to dial up her anger, then sat back and watched as she slowly turned into a raging screaming monster, setting up traps to catch the creatures.

Too caught up in his fun, he didn't even notice when a small fight broke out over on the lawn where the rest of the ponies were congregated, about who should pay for what was apparently 'carnival food'.

Instead, he continued to watch the scene unravelling in the animal garden, using his magic – limited as it was – to cause as much difficulty for the mare as possible, and to amplify her anger. It wasn't easy, because she had quite a pure soul, but eventually she became so deranged, she chased all the creatures clear out of the garden and into the ballroom of the castle.

If his stone prison had not prevented him, he would have collapsed onto the ground and had to hold his stomach as he laughed hysterically. Unfortunately, his game had distracted him enough from the rest of the gala, that by the time he started searching again for some argument to help him fully regain his power, everyone had started to leave, and there was no one left outside where his power could reach them.

He raged to himself, furious at having been thwarted, especially by his own delightful game. It would have been something to make his return on the night of Celestia's gala, so as many ponies as possible would see him defeat her. It now seemed as though he would have to change his plans, but no matter. As long as Celestia didn't realise he had been responsible for her animals bursting into the ballroom, she should not anticipate his escape and wouldn't take any measures to prevent it.

He had waited a thousand years, he could wait a little longer. Besides, that silly school trip to the Canterlot statue garden was coming up soon, and Discord could always count on at least one argumentative child…


	3. Change of Plans

**Fluttershy and Discord always have set plans for Hearts and Hooves Day. Fluttershy spends the day with her critters and friends and Discord avoids the mushy love by playing Ogres and Oubliettes. Then Fluttershy's plans change, and Discord has no idea how to deal with it.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

It was the day before Hearts and Hooves Day, and the Ponyville marketplace was packed as ponies hurried around collecting last minute things for their plans the next day. Among them was one yellow pegasus with long sweeping pink hair, who was shopping in the less-packed animal feed section.

The young mare was consulting a list. "Just the carrots for Angel left," she said to herself. But as she approached the carrot stand, two levitated into the air, making Carrot Top shriek and cower under her counter.

The carrots then proceeded to point at each other, then waggled up and down experimentally, before two red and yellow eyes appeared beneath them, so they appeared to have carrot-eyebrows.

"These _look_ like two good ones, Fluttershy," said a disembodied voice.

" _Discord!_ "

The rest of the draconequus appeared, and the carrots fell off his normal bushy white eyebrows. He caught them and handed them to the pegasus.

"What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked, as she took the carrots and peered over the counter of the stall to check on Carrot Top.

"It's Hearts and Hooves Day tomorrow," Discord reminded her. "And this year Spike and I have plans to turn Twilight's entire castle into a giant epic Ogres and Oubliettes game, so I came early to hash out some plans."

Fluttershy cast him a questioning look as she tried to fan Carrot Top, who appeared to have fainted. "Does Twilight know about this?"

"Our playing Ogres and Oubliettes, or turning her home into a living game board universe?" the Chaos Lord asked innocently.

Fluttershy gave him a withering stare.

"It's alright! Twilight knows Spike is hosting, and I've already promised to have everything back to normal by the time she gets home."

"Hmm. Well, alright." Fluttershy had finally managed to revive Carrot Top, and paid her for the two carrots. Carrot Top thanked her before quickly packing up her stall.

"How lucky. You managed to get your carrots right before she closed!" Discord remarked.

Fluttershy wondered whether he realised that _he_ was responsible for that, but shook her head. Discord would always be Discord, no matter how many times it was pointed out that his chaos sometimes freaked ponies out.

"So what are you doing today, my dear?" he asked her.

"I'm just making sure I've got everything for tomorrow," Fluttershy said, adding the carrots to her saddlebag.

"Oh? Big plans?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Just my usual ones. I like to make a special breakfast for all my critters, then I go out with the girls and we give each other a couple of small gifts."

"That sounds like fun!" Discord said, as he started following Fluttershy out of the marketplace.

"It usually is."

Suddenly a young earth stallion stepped out in front of them. His coat was dark green, and his mane and tail were a very dark brown, twisted into dreadlocks, with thin lighter brown streaks running through them. "Fluttershy," he said by way of greeting.

The shy pegasus looked around and her soft smile grew suddenly wide, her teal eyes shining with surprise. "Lu!"

Discord stared on as his companion hugged the earth pony.

"Discord, this is Lu," Fluttershy said as she pulled away. "I met him when I went to see the Breezie migration. Remember Tree Hugger? This is her brother." As she spoke she shot him a look that Discord interpreted (correctly) as a reminder not to behave in the same way as he had done when he had met her hippie friend.

So Discord bit back his scowl as Fluttershy turned back to Lu.

"Lu, this is Discord."

"Yes, I'm one of Fluttershy's _closest_ friends," Discord cut in, dragging the pegasus under his arm.

"Yeah, Fluttershy's mentioned you a couple of times," Lu said. "And my sister told me all about that party where you were going to send her to another universe or something? Sounded pretty sick, dude."

Discord's right eye twitched.

The other two however, didn't notice. Fluttershy was already eagerly asking Lu what had brought him to Ponyville.

"Well, I've been wanting to come study the Timberwolves in the Everfree Forest _forever_ , but I've just always had something on, y'know? So, finally I had like a month free where I wasn't working on any project to save rare, endangered magical creatures, and I managed to get every dog in the shelter I run for sick and injured dogs a home, and I thought, now I can go study Timberwolves! And while I'm in Ponyville, I can stop in and see Fluttershy. So here I am."

"Wow," Fluttershy said as she gently wriggled out of Discord's embrace. "You're really going to go into the Everfree Forest and study Timberwolves?"

"Yeah," Lu shrugged.

"Really?" Discord cut in. "Aren't you worried about being ripped apart, eaten alive and dying a long, horrible, gory death?"

"Discord!" Fluttershy exclaimed, looking scared and shocked.

"I'm just wondering."

"Nah, man," Lu replied. "You just gotta give out the right vibe. Timberwolves are just big dogs, and you just gotta be on the same wavelength, y'know? Totally zen, and all that."

Discord blinked. He was having the same strange feeling he used to have when talking to Tree Hugger. Lu spoke in the same sort of dreamy, mystic, nonsensical way. It was grating on him.

"So Fluttershy," Lu said, turning back to the pegasus. "I was wondering if you just wanted to catch up tomorrow."

At this, Discord narrowed his eyes at the earth pony, but the other two took no notice of him.

"I would, but I'm sorry Lu, I have plans."

"You're going to make a big fancy breakfast for all your critters, right?"

"Mm-hmm," Fluttershy nodded.

"I'd love to help you with that. And it's been forever since I've seen Angel Bunny. I miss the little dude."

"Well…"

"And then we can go out before you meet up with your friends."

"Um…okay…"

Discord was feeling ignored, and he didn't like it. "Well, I see the two of you are clearly busy making your plans!" he snapped. "I need to get going too. The Ogres and Oubliettes Deluxe Castle Edition isn't going to plan itself!"

He vanished.

Fluttershy stared after him in confusion, while Lu commented, "He's a cool guy. Does he always glow green when he disappears like that?"

Discord appeared right beside Spike, who jumped and caused a massive inkblot over a list he was double-checking for Twilight.

"Agh! Discord! Don't _do_ that!"

"She has plans!" the draconequus burst out. "She has Hearts and Hooves Day plans with him!" He waved his lion paw and made the inkblot disappear.

"Huh?" said Spike, glancing from the restored parchment back to Discord. " _Who's_ got plans with him?"

"Fluttershy!"

"Right. Okay. And who's 'him'?"

" _Lu_."

"Who's Lu?"

"Tree Hugger's brother!"

Spike scratched his head. "Discord, would you mind making sense for once. I'm not following."

"Fluttershy and I ran into Tree Hugger's brother outside the marketplace, and he asked her out! And she said _yes_! WHY? What does she see in him?!"

"Tree Hugger's brother… oh, you mean Lu?"

"Yes, that's what I said," Discord snapped.

"Well," said Spike. "He is an animal conservationist, so they've probably got a lot in common."

"He asked if he could help her feed her animals. Puh-lease!"

"Yeah, they both love animals…"

"He said he was _dying_ to see Angel Bunny again!"

" _That_ is kinda weird. The bunny's almost as picky as Opal…"

"He's going out with her and the girls!"

Spike sighed. The draconequus was not listening to a word he said. He slid off his chair and went to find a whistle. By the time he got back, Discord was in full freak-out mode, describing a yellow pegasus with brown hair and lavender eyes.

The tirade was only brought to a halt by Spike's piercing whistle. Discord stared at the young dragon.

"First off," lectured Spike, "just because Fluttershy agreed to see Lu Hugger tomorrow doesn't mean she's thinking of marrying him, and I guarantee you she's not wondering what their children will look like!"

Discord crossed his arms. "You don't know that."

"I do," Spike said firmly, "because I know Fluttershy. And so do you."

Discord huffed and sulked.

"Besides, it's not like it's affecting _you_ , is it? You weren't planning on seeing Fluttershy tomorrow. Why does it matter if Lu Hugger does?"

Discord scowled. "Because it's a _Hearts and Hooves Day date_! Which means Fluttershy will probably become his special somepony, and then they'll get married, and she won't be Fluttershy anymore. She'll be Flutter Hugger! And that doesn't even make any sense! You can't hug a flutter! It's a verb! And besides, what's a _lu_?"

"It's short for Lu Pine," Spike muttered.

More huffing and scowling, and Spike heard the draconequus mutter something about 'waking up with fleas' under his breath.

Spike sighed. "Listen, Discord. Remember when you tried to get Fluttershy's attention when she went to the Grand Galloping Gala with Tree Hugger? If you try and mess up her date, she's only going to get mad at you. There's nothing you can do about it now. Just come over tomorrow, we'll play Ogres and Oubliettes and you can forget all about Fluttershy and Lu. Then he'll leave and things will go back to normal."

"He won't leave!" Discord shouted. "He's here for a _month_ researching Timberwolves!"

"Well then," Spike said, "he'll be in the Everfree Forest most of the time and Fluttershy will barely see him."

Discord paused, and suddenly cheered up right away. "You're right. He'll be in the Everfree Forest most of the time. And it would be completely plausible if he got eaten by a carnivorous hippopotamus!"

"No, that's not what I… wait, what?"

Discord laughed. "You're right, Spike. I was worried about nothing."

"I don't think there are any carnivorous hippopotamus living in the Forest…" Spike said cautiously.

Discord turned away and said breezily, "Really? I was sure I heard about one moving in there recently."

Before the dragon could reply, he vanished.

Spike stared at where the Lord of Chaos had just been standing. "Uh-oh."

Lu showed up bright and early on Fluttershy's doorstep the next day. As she opened the door to greet him, Angel Bunny flew through the open door and tackled the stallion in a hug.

Fluttershy chuckled as she followed her beloved pet outside. "I've never seen him greet someone so enthusiastically."

Lu laughed. "I'm honoured, little dude," he said, ruffling the rabbit's ears.

"Come on in, I'm just getting set up," said Fluttershy, opening her door wide. Lu followed her in, with Angel Bunny riding on his back.

Meanwhile, across town, Discord had popped into being outside Twilight's castle and rung the bell. Spike opened the door.

"Discord! You're early, Twilight hasn't left yet. She's in the library reading."

"Oh well. Should I come back later or…?"

"No! It's fine. She probably won't notice."

"Ah." The draconequus' ears sagged with disappointment. "Good."

Discord was dragged inside by the dragon. "I do still have to finish my chores," Spike was rambling, "but then I'll be free. Hey! You couldn't help with that, could ya?"

"Why not?" Discord sighed, and snapped his fingers, not so much to be a good friend or so he could hang out with Spike, but because he didn't see the point of anyone doing chores.

He was wishing sometime later though that he hadn't, because having nothing he had to do meant Spike was keen on spending the time before Twilight left with Discord – which had most definitely NOT been the draconequus' plan. He had hoped by showing up early to be turned away for another hour or two, and so give him a very plausible excuse to sneak over to Fluttershy's and see how she was getting on with that insufferable Lu character. Now the only chance of that happening was if he persuaded the dragon to play Hide and Seek, and he somehow didn't see Spike falling for that.

Spike had guessed as much, and was hoping to keep the Chaos Lord under his watch and so out of too much mischief. He suggested they read some comic books, which Discord did not have a lot of patience for, but he managed to find a couple about the world of Ogres and Oubliettes, which at least piqued his interest somewhat, and they were able to while away an hour or so before both of them got hungry and went to the kitchen to make something, which turned into a fun disaster.

After a solid forty-five minutes, Spike cast his eye around the kitchen, which now resembled something like a bomb site having a highly disorganised yard sale.

"Who knew baking cookies could be so dangerous?"

"Never underestimate the power of raspberries and onyx," Discord advised, taking another tray of smoking black dough from a dangerously glowing oven.

Spike nodded vaguely. After a silence, broken only by the sound of Discord turning his paws to fans to clear the smoke from his raspberry-onyx cookies, he said, "Twilight's going to kill me when she sees this."

"Never mind," Discord said cheerily, waving one of his fans. It changed back to an eagle's claw and he snapped his talons, setting the kitchen back to rights. Then he grabbed one of the blackened cookies and tossed it into his mouth, crunching. "Perfect," he said. He swallowed, then gasped and used his still-a-fan limb to cool his tongue. "But hot!" He summoned a glass of milk and threw it in his own face. "Ahhh…"

Spike shook his head at the Chaos Lord's antics.

"Spike!"

They both looked up as Twilight entered, closing the flap of her saddlebag with her magic.

"There you are. Oh, and Discord. Hi."

"Hello, Twilight."

The alicorn shot a glance at Spike, who said, "He's being good, Twilight."

"Oh, I promise, Princess," Discord put in, a halo and angel wings appearing on him for added effect.

Twilight frowned. "Okay. Have fun, you two. I'd say make yourself at home, Discord, but I've seen your home, so please don't. I'll be back in a few hours."

She waved goodbye and left.

As soon as they heard the huge front door close behind her, Discord tore off his angel wings and threw away his halo and caused both to vanish. "Now, time for the fun!"

Spike and Discord had a very enjoyable time racing around the transformed castle that afternoon. Though Spike couldn't help but notice that almost every enemy Discord conjured up and then tore through was some sort of tree or dog, or some hybrid of the two. He wisely chose not to say anything, but instead be glad that at least Discord was taking his feelings out on magical paper cut-outs and not on the real inspiration for these characters.

By the time all their foes were vanquished, Owlowiscious – who had been instructed to keep watch for Twilight's return – had flown in through the window and was hooting urgently at them.

Discord only just managed to snap his fingers in time for the incriminating board game world to vanish and teleport himself and Spike to the entrance hall before Twilight stepped through her front door. The two guys smiled innocently at the alicorn, which widened when she shot them a suspicious look.

"Everything alright here, boys?"

"As you can see, Twilight, your home is just as you left it," Discord said, waving his eagle claw around the place.

She nodded. "Thank you, Discord. Did you guys have fun?"

"Oh yeah! It was awesome!" Spike cheered.

Twilight smiled. "I'm glad. Now Spike, wasn't I going to help you with something?" She grinned at her assistant, who jumped up in eagerness.

"Yeah!"

"You're welcome to stay and help us, Discord," she said, as she and Spike started to head toward the kitchen.

"Thank you, Twilight, but I have something of my own to do," he replied.

She nodded and smiled at him. "Alright. Happy Hearts and Hooves Day."

Discord grimaced and disappeared with a pop, and the alicorn and dragon set off on their mysterious task while the draconequus went to his.

Fluttershy jumped as the Lord of Chaos materialised in front of her.

"Agh! _Discord!_ "

"Sorry, my dear, didn't mean to startle you."

Fluttershy put a hoof to her chest to try and calm herself. "It's alright."

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

The draconequus fixed her with an uncharacteristically serious look and said sombrely, "Why don't we celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day together?"

Fluttershy paused, not expecting that.

Discord continued to watch her, waiting for an answer.

"Well…" Fluttershy said, unsure how to explain, "you've never really been a fan of Hearts and Hooves Day. You've said you can't stand all the 'mushy love nonsense'."

"I know," Discord sighed. "But I was just thinking… You celebrate with all your other friends. And your critters. Why not me?"

Fluttershy looked at him and said quietly, "I never thought you wanted to."

"Well I _do_ ," Discord huffed, crossing his arms. "I _am_ your friend, aren't I?"

"Of course! Discord, I would love to celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day with you!"

This gave the draconequus pause, and he cocked his head to the side, puzzled. Fluttershy seemed to be waiting for him to speak. After a while, he did, his voice soft and almost pleading. "Why did you agree to go on a date with Lu Hugger?"

Fluttershy gently took his paw and gazed at him earnestly, hoping he could see the truth in her eyes. "Can I tell you something, Discord?"

He nodded.

"Hearts and Hooves Day really isn't that big a deal to me."

Seeing his frown, she continued.

"For me, I love the day because it's an excuse to spoil my friends – my loved ones – and I love that there's one day in the year where we're reminded to celebrate the ones we love. But I want to remember that for the rest of the year as well – like I do every Tuesday when we have our morning teas together.

"It should never be a day to feel lonely, because it's a reminder to appreciate those we've got. I'm very sorry if I made you feel lonely, Discord."

Discord looked at his own paw, wrapped in both her hooves, as he was unable to look her in the eye right then. He cleared his throat, then managed to say, "So Lu Hugger is just a friend?"

"Yes," said Fluttershy. "Which is what I told him today."

At this, Discord looked up. "You did? Wha…why…?" He realised he was stammering and quickly shut his mouth.

Fluttershy grinned at this. "Even _I_ realise why he might have asked me out on Hearts and Hooves Day."

"Oh."

They were silent for another moment, both staring down at the floor. Then Fluttershy squeezed Discord's paw, which she still held, and the draconequus looked at her. The pegasus smiled shyly.

"Would you like to do something together for next Hearts and Hooves Day, Discord?"

Discord beamed, his warm, bubbly personality immediately resurfacing. "I would love to, my dear. Although," he laughed, "I'm not sure how Spike will like losing another member of our Ogres and Oubliettes team."

"Well," Fluttershy smiled, "maybe we can think of something to do all together."

Discord nodded, and impulsively swept the little pegasus into a hug. When he realised what he was doing, he set her down quickly, noticing that her cheeks now matched her mane. "Uh…" he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I'll…I'll see you on Tuesday."

"Alright," said Fluttershy, also avoiding his gaze. "See you then."

"Goodbye little bunny," Discord called to the scowling Angel, who watched them from Fluttershy's couch.

Fluttershy smiled at this usual departing greeting, and the draconequus vanished. Her smile slid off her face and she sighed. She then looked over at the angry rabbit and said sternly, "You better get used to him, mister. He's going to be around a long time."

Angel crossed his arms and tapped his foot disapprovingly, but Fluttershy didn't notice. She smiled as her thoughts wandered. "Yes…a long time…"

* * *

 **Not my best ending, but I hope you enjoyed the story anyways. Have a happy Hearts and Hooves Day everypony! Love to you all (but especially those who review ;) )**

 **OnlyHere4Puckabrina**


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